If you dont get in would you go to PA school ?

[MilwaukeeMike28]

---

Members do not see this ad.

If you dont get accepted to any med schools would you go to PA school ? Do you know what a PA does exactly ? Do you understand that neurosurgical and CV/CT PAs can make more money than FP or internal med docs ?

Would you rather be a PA or a DO ?

Do you ever consider that if you go to an out of state private school you could easily have 250K in debt and only a $125K salary in internal med when you are done. Have you done the math on paying that debt off via after tax dollars ?

Me neighbor is an internal med doc who makes about 125k a year and he works all the time. That is a terrible salary - just terrible if you had to pay 250K in debt to get edjumacated.

So would ya go to PA school ?

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I'm not in it for the money so i don't care how little i make.

As far as a PA school, i'd try med school for a couple years and only afte ri'm relaly convinved i can't make it would i ever consider it.

 

[ZappBrannigan]

The problem with PA school is that in most cases you usually have to log in many many hours of direct patient care - work, not volunteer. Most people are nurses, medical assistants, EMTs, and so on. It's not really a second choice for failed medical students as it is a step up from other health professions.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

The problem with PA school is that in most cases you usually have to log in many many hours of direct patient care - work, not volunteer. Most people are nurses, medical assistants, EMTs, and so on. It's not really a second choice for failed medical students as it is a step up from other health professions.

i wouldn't say "it's not a choice for failed medical student"; i know a couple who did take that path, one who completed med school but failed the boards afterwards.

 

[MilwaukeeMike28]

If you go to an out of state school and take a 3 year residency you can easily be at least a quarter mil in debt before you finish training. You will never pay that back if you are making 90k as a family practice doc. You will be as poor as a engineer who just finished school for the rest of your life.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

If you go to an out of state school and take a 3 year residency you can easily be at least a quarter mil in debt before you finish training. You will never pay that back if you are making 90k as a family practice doc. You will be as poor as a engineer who just finished school for the rest of your life.

haha i switched out of engineering a year ago

that sucks, sorry, dude; well i'm trying hard not to get in debt to begin with

 

[Sharky]

Would you rather be a PA or a DO ?

What kind of dumb question is that. A DO because I would rather be a physician than a physician assistant. I would get paid more and PAs would be working under me.

 

[MilwaukeeMike28]

It is not true that you would get paid more. If you went to a DO school there is a good chance you would never get an allopathic surgical res. so you would be limited to IM or FP. Surgical PAs can make as much or more than IM or FP docs. CV/CT PAs can make up to 200k. Virtually no IM or FP docs make that much.

PAs also avoid years of compounded debt.

Sounds like you are an ego maniac and uninformed.

 

[Sharky]

It is not true that you would get paid more. If you went to a DO school there is a good chance you would never get an allopathic surgical res. so you would be limited to IM or FP. Surgical PAs can make as much or more than IM or FP docs. CV/CT PAs can make up to 200k. Virtually no IM or FP docs make that much.

PAs also avoid years of compounded debt.

Sounds like you are an ego maniac and uninformed.

Actually no. It's easy to get into an allopathic surgery residency as a DO. The question is where in the US and if it is a community or university based program. Why do you think so many FMGs get those spots easily. DOs are 2nd when it comes to getting MD residencies and FMGs are third choice. Plus they still have DO surgery residencies.

And in no way DOs are limited to FP or IM. They do all specialties and are still above a PA.

It surprises me the type of ignorant trash some premeds spew out.

 

[MilwaukeeMike28]

Mr ******* -

It is not even easy for a MD student to get a surgery res. Even general surg. is competitive for MD student. ENT, Eye, Ortho, Neurosurgery, are all extremely competitve for MD students and usually out of reach for DO students. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I HAVE A GOOD FRIEND WHO WENT THROUGH THE PROCESS. WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR INFO JACKASS ?

I hope you get into a MD school, finish at the bottom of your class and become a FP doc in some ghetto hospital making 80K a year trying to pay off your quarter million dollar debt ! Even the contract nurses make more than 80K ! You will be poor forever !

 

[Sharky]

Mr ******* -

It is not even easy for a MD student to get a surgery res. Even general surg. is competitive for MD student. ENT, Eye, Ortho, Neurosurgery, are all extremely competitve for MD students and usually out of reach for DO students. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I HAVE A GOOD FRIEND WHO WENT THROUGH THE PROCESS. WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR INFO JACKASS ?

I hope you get into a MD school, finish at the bottom of your class and become a FP doc in some ghetto hospital making 80K a year trying to pay off your quarter million dollar debt ! Even the contract nurses make more than 80K ! You will be poor forever !

You're an idiot. You said surgery residency which means general surgery residency. If you're talking about ortho or another competitive residency, then it is more difficult. DOs still have their own residencies.

There's also money in other specialties besides surgery such as a fellowship in IM, PM&R, anesthesiology, where DOs are rampant. Your ignorance is amazing when it comes to the medical field.

I'm already an osteopathic medical student and once I do get into a nice specialty, I'll pimp PAs like you who think they'll be making 200 thousand.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Mr ******* -

It is not even easy for a MD student to get a surgery res. Even general surg. is competitive for MD student. ENT, Eye, Ortho, Neurosurgery, are all extremely competitve for MD students and usually out of reach for DO students. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I HAVE A GOOD FRIEND WHO WENT THROUGH THE PROCESS. WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR INFO JACKASS ?

I hope you get into a MD school, finish at the bottom of your class and become a FP doc in some ghetto hospital making 80K a year trying to pay off your quarter million dollar debt ! Even the contract nurses make more than 80K ! You will be poor forever !

come on, can't we all be civil around here? just b/c people disagree doesn't mean we have to start hoping they flunk out or something 🙁

 

[Sharky]

come on, can't we all be civil around here? just b/c people disagree doesn't mean we have to start hoping they flunk out or something 🙁

Exactly. I don't know why he's getting all mad at me just because he wants to be a PA now which will always just be a physician ASSISTANT. Know your role boyeeee.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Exactly. I don't know why he's getting all mad at me just because he wants to be a PA now which will always just be a physician ASSISTANT. Know your role boyeeee.

yea well you calling him an idiot wasn't exactly nice either 😉

 

[Sharky]

yea well you calling him an idiot wasn't exactly nice either 😉

Ok he's not an idiot. He is just ignorant about a lot of things in the medical field. That would make him naive.

 

[Mr. Seeds]

You're an idiot. You said surgery residency which means general surgery residency. If you're talking about ortho or another competitive residency, then it is more difficult. DOs still have their own residencies.

There's also money in other specialties besides surgery such as a fellowship in IM, PM&R, anesthesiology, where DOs are rampant. Your ignorance is amazing when it comes to the medical field.

I'm already an osteopathic medical student and once I do get into a nice specialty, I'll pimp PAs like you who think they'll be making 200 thousand.

 

[MilwaukeeMike28]

Ahhh...... look who the ******* is Mr DO ... ( notice I didnt call you doctor DO because most people dont even know what a DO is )

Couldnt you get a 3.5 ? or a 30 on the MCAT ? I had more than a 3.5 and I wasnt even trying to get into med school.

Now you are facing at least $35K a year in tuition debt along with 15K of living debt times four years = at least 200K in debt before interest start compiling during res.

Odds are you wont get a decent fellowship you jackass. My neighbor is trying to get an Oncology fellowship and he is having a hard time after going to UW-Iowa med school and UW-Madison Res in Medicine. Those schools wouldnt even look at you !

You will be an internal med doc making 100K living in a apartment the rest of your life paying off your debt.

Enjoy !

 

[Fusion]

Settle down, kids.

Although becoming a physician assistant can be a very rewarding and lucrative career (not to mention saving a few years of school and training), I would not consider it as an alternative to becoming a physician (MD or DO) because, as one of you mentioned, a PA is just that - an assistant. One reason I am going into medicine is for the satisfaction of making decisions that will help people to heal and alleviate suffering. I would not receive the same gratification as an assistant to someone making the decisions. As a PA, you will be working FOR someone for the rest of your productive life, and although that is fine for many, it is not something that I aspire to. I need to be my own person.

 

[Sharky]

Ahhh...... look who the ******* is Mr DO ... ( notice I didnt call you doctor DO because most people dont even know what a DO is )

Couldnt you get a 3.5 ? or a 30 on the MCAT ? I had more than a 3.5 and I wasnt even trying to get into med school. I chose DO because I believe in its philosophy of the holistic approach. I also wanted to learn OMM because I feel I can help my patients better and make a lot of money out of it, depending on what specialty I do. The MD schools were my backup.

Now you are facing at least $35K a year in tuition debt along with 15K of living debt times four years = at least 200K in debt before interest start compiling during res.

Odds are you wont get a decent fellowship you jackass. My neighbor is trying to get an Oncology fellowship and he is having a hard time after going to UW-Iowa med school and UW-Madison Res in Medicine. Those schools wouldnt even look at you !

You will be an internal med doc making 100K living in a apartment the rest of your life paying off your debt.

Enjoy !

Sorry buddy wrong again. My Gpa was above 3.5 and MCAT above a 30 and I turned down many offers from MD schools. I chose DO because I believe in its holistic approach and its philosophy. I also wanted to learn OMM because I think it can really help patients and I can make a lot of money from it, depending on the specialty I go in. The MD schools were my backup.

Even if i was an IM doc, the average salary is around a 160,000 a year.

Man, where do you get your skewed numbers. So a surgical PA makes 200,000 and an IM doc makes 100,000? You're just making a fool of yourself now buddy.

 

[MilwaukeeMike28]

There is NO WAY someone would chose to go to a DO school unless they could not get into med school. DO costs too much, is not respected, is a scarlet letter for the rest of your life and is not nearly as satisfying as earning a real medical degree.

Gimme a break dude - you are a loser.

Enjoy your debt.

 

[Sharky]

There is NO WAY someone would chose to go to a DO school unless they could not get into med school. DO costs too much, is not respected, is a scarlet letter for the rest of your life and is not nearly as satisfying as earning a real medical degree.

Gimme a break dude - you are a loser.

Enjoy your debt.

A couple of points. DO school is medical school. Yes I chose DO school over MD school for the reasons I stated. I have a scholarship at my DO school so I won't be in major debt and I don't care about how respected it is. It is not a scarlet letter for all your life, it is slowly gaining prestige, and really a PA is a scarlet letter all your life since you're not a physician but just an assistant.

You're the loser who won't get into any medical school, MD or DO, and is settling on PA school with the dream that you'll be making 200,000 a year. That is the epitome of loserdom.

 

[Lindyhopper]

I recently realized that there are 3 year direct BSN/MSN programs? Any thoughts about the NP career path?

 

[Sharky]

I recently realized that there are 3 year direct BSN/MSN programs? Any thoughts about the NP career path?

NPs are not liscensed in all 50 states, cannot prescribe medicine, or perform surgery. The only liscensed physicians in the US in all 50 states are MDs and DOs.

 

[YzIa]

If you dont get accepted to any med schools would you go to PA school ? Do you know what a PA does exactly ? Do you understand that neurosurgical and CV/CT PAs can make more money than FP or internal med docs ?

Would you rather be a PA or a DO ?

Do you ever consider that if you go to an out of state private school you could easily have 250K in debt and only a $125K salary in internal med when you are done. Have you done the math on paying that debt off via after tax dollars ?

Me neighbor is an internal med doc who makes about 125k a year and he works all the time. That is a terrible salary - just terrible if you had to pay 250K in debt to get edjumacated.

So would ya go to PA school ?

So, trying to be civil in a post! Here goes. I consider PA not a backup to MD/DO. As a PA you do treat patients and you do have some autonomy, but you do not have the freedom or the capabilities that an MD/DO does in treatment, prescribing, and most importantly (to me) research and faculty* positions. I think a lot of people are drawn to the physician profession because of the abilities to make a difference. Whether or not they admit it, these abilities come from the prestige the position carries. Drs are expected to be active and are looked to as educational role models in communities. Also, physicians are their own bosses, once they are an attending, there is no one above them in most practices... they are typically either associates of a practice or the practice at a hospital, but are no ones employees. They are the top of the food chain so to speak. Immense knowledge, resposibility, and honor....

PA, a great profession, but not i think what a lot of the type A go getters want. those who enter medicine may not be satisfied as an "assistant". a huge benefit of PA is that you don't do residencies, and can change specialties with relative ease as far as i know. - I am not too well informed on the profession, i have two friends in their 2nd year of schooling but have not kept up with them recently. I feel that a PA would be more of a job, go in and look forward to going home. A physician is a lifestyle... its what I want, so thats my answer and reasoning.

Also, while I am applying allopathic, DO's are real doctors, equalling capable as MD's with comparable educations if not identical. I shadowed a very competent and capable and young! DO ortho last summer. They exist in the extremely competitive specialties, just are harder to find. DO's with the intelligence and drive are just as capable to recieve more resident matches as MD's are. Most DO's do go into family practice becaue that is their interest. Osteopathy is more specialized for that, plain and simple. There is no shame or < MD in being a DO. I find that to be the most ignorant comment in this thread.

Hope this post is readable, its been thrown together as i multitask, so those are just my 2 cents



*I assume there are limitted positions in PA programs for PA's to teach

 

[Sharky]

Also, while I am applying allopathic, DO's are real doctors, equalling capable as MD's with comparable educations if not identical. I shadowed a very competent and capable and young! DO ortho last summer. They exist in the extremely competitive specialties, just are harder to find. DO's with the intelligence and drive are just as capable to recieve more resident matches as MD's are. Most DO's do go into family practice becaue that is their interest. Osteopathy is more specialized for that, plain and simple. There is no shame or < MD in being a DO. I find that to be the most ignorant comment in this thread.

Thank you for providing your accurate honest opinion of DOs as they do specialize often times but the majority prefer to practice in primary care settings. I look forward to working alongside MDs such as yourself. I only hope that people such as the OP who have such opinions about DOs get weeded out and don't get into any medical school.

 

[YzIa]

looks like my rant took too long to type and is a bit outdated

Mike, no offense but you have gone from nuebie to troll in a day. In reality it can be fun to bitch on these boards, but spreading false data and personal attacks I would hope are a little below you as a poster, and fellow Wisconsiner!

 

[YzIa]

And one final post, a link to a nice website containing specialty information including avg. salaries of physicians, as I am not one to say certain data is false without a source.

http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/specialties.htm

 

[Sharky]

And one final post, a link to a nice website containing specialty information including avg. salaries of physicians, as I am not one to say certain data is false without a source.

http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/specialties.htm

Just to correct the OP's misinformation, here are the real salaries of IM and FP docs from that website:

IM: "The annual salary ranges from $150,000 to $179,000."
FP: "The annual salary ranges from approximately $146,000 to $165,599."

Umm yeeeahhhh, those salaries are above 80,000 to 100,000. 😎

 

[raekelly]

It is not true that you would get paid more. If you went to a DO school there is a good chance you would never get an allopathic surgical res. so you would be limited to IM or FP. Surgical PAs can make as much or more than IM or FP docs. CV/CT PAs can make up to 200k. Virtually no IM or FP docs make that much.

PAs also avoid years of compounded debt.

Sounds like you are an ego maniac and uninformed.

No, you will not be limited to IM or FP. There are DO's in many fields of medicine. For instance, there are DO's in psychiatry, Ob/Gyn, Emergency Med, etc.

 

[akpete]

looks like my rant took too long to type and is a bit outdated

Mike, no offense but you have gone from nuebie to troll in a day. In reality it can be fun to bitch on these boards, but spreading false data and personal attacks I would hope are a little below you as a poster, and fellow Wisconsiner!

I completely agree with you. I don't know what Mike's problem is, but he insists on arguing with everyone. With some weak, ignorant arguments at that. 😡

 

[dshnay]

Just to correct the OP's misinformation, here are the real salaries of IM and FP docs from that website:

IM: "The annual salary ranges from $150,000 to $179,000."
FP: "The annual salary ranges from approximately $146,000 to $165,599."

Umm yeeeahhhh, those salaries are above 80,000 to 100,000. 😎

I actually believe that they make a little bit more, especially in california and new york

 

[stinkycheese]

I completely agree with you. I don't know what Mike's problem is, but he insists on arguing with everyone. With some weak, ignorant arguments at that. 😡

I think its fairly obvious that he's a disgruntled PA student who thinks that if MD/DO students do not want to be like him, then that's a signal of their arrogance. This is what annoys the shizzle out of me about some allied health professionals: it's okay for them to bash doctors all they want, but if we politely say, "I would prefer my position, that's why I chose it", we're arrogant jerks. 🙄

 

[Assembler]

This is the stupidest thread I have ever seen... 🙁

Where do we get so many ignorant people from? And...why won't they go away?

Edit:

Let me correct myself; it's just one.

 

[drguy22]

o brother....i wanted to write a big long post...but....why bother....bah good mornin to u too!

 

[Psycho Doctor]

good morning drguy22! hope you are having a good day.

There is far too much animosity around here...why can't everyone just get along even if we disagree?

 

[YzIa]

Enough good will, im pissed off, its 730 AM and I am awake again. 😱

 

[drguy22]

good morning drguy22! hope you are having a good day.

There is far too much animosity around here...why can't everyone just get along even if we disagree?

hahaha im having a good day sooo far...today was my lil sis first day of 10th grade...and i was scarin her bout how hard it was and how the teachers were nasty etc etc....it was really fun 🙂 lol...it was hilarious

 

[TexPre-Med]

I have to disagree with someone saying it is hard to get a general surgery residency. There are tons going to D.O.'s and FMG's. Even afterwards there are still a good number unmatched. If you have any skills whatsoever, I think you could land general surgery.

As far as debt, I live in Texas! Sorry for my snickering. $7,000 tuition is just so beautiful!

 

[mamaMD]

NPs are not liscensed in all 50 states, cannot prescribe medicine, or perform surgery.QUOTE]

NP can prescribe medicine, some actually have more authority in that matter than a PA. Not saying I agree with that, but it's true. Here for example a PA can not prescribe morphine but a NP can.

Some states PA are only certified and not liscensed but most NPs are liscensed in their respective states. I'm thinking someone told me that in NY (or some east coast state) a NP can write an order for restraints but a PA can't.

To me all that is messed up since PA are trained in medicine and NP's are not, but whatever.

 

[YzIa]

NPs are not liscensed in all 50 states, cannot prescribe medicine, or perform surgery.QUOTE]

NP can prescribe medicine, some actually have more authority in that matter than a PA. Not saying I agree with that, but it's true. Here for example a PA can not prescribe morphine but a NP can.

Some states PA are only certified and not liscensed but most NPs are liscensed in their respective states. I'm thinking someone told me that in NY (or some east coast state) a NP can write an order for restraints but a PA can't.

To me all that is messed up since PA are trained in medicine and NP's are not, but whatever.

I know as of last year orders for Therapy from a NP could not be followed by Therapists in Wisconsin, the order had to come from a physician or PA. Funny enough, NP could legally write the orders in the state, they just could not be followed.

 

[jonb12997]

who is the mike28 person and what profession is he in? (obviously not DO...) is he PA/MD/Applying?? I'd put my anatomy course at UNE up against ANY MD or DO school, *careful, stay off soap box.... so hard... to resist* DO's are now in every medical specialty (and that's a fact, can't argue it)... oh well, i'm not gonna keep going with one

 

[Truce57]

I was going to reply to this thread, but then I realized I was all out of troll food.

 

[DocMizzle]

If you dont get accepted to any med schools would you go to PA school ?

No.

 

[ItsGavinC]

This thread lost its benefit long ago.